ds_4815:iamdonovan: gadian: Mark Ratner: Someone with the Alaska Weather Service leaked this to the press. No way someone else would ever discover this on their own. No way.

I read that forecast every day and saw it right away.

Seriously. There's only one legitimate place to go for weather forecasts.

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The only place to get accurate weather reporting in Alaska, a state in which its citizens collectively own and are paid for their share in its extracted resources, is the federal government? This is an outrage.

impaler:We should defund the national weather service. We don't need it, after all we have the weather channel (who get their weather information from the NWS).

This is what Republicans actually belief.

Sadly this is what Republicans actually believe. Rick Santorum was one of the assholes who tried to quash the NWS from reporting information about the nation's weather, because their accurate reporting of said weather was negatively impacting businesses - who rely on said reporting - to make money as middlemen.

Barry Lyndon's Annuity Cheque:impaler: We should defund the national weather service. We don't need it, after all we have the weather channel (who get their weather information from the NWS).

This is what Republicans actually belief.

Sadly this is what Republicans actually believe. Rick Santorum was one of the assholes who tried to quash the NWS from reporting information about the nation's weather, because their accurate reporting of said weather was negatively impacting businesses - who rely on said reporting - to make money as middlemen.

The really farked up thing about this is that a lot of Alaskans' survival counts on this sort of information. Many of the villages can only get provisions and medicine through air mail, and the pilots depend on a detailed and dependable weather forecast. Like Iamdonovan said, There's only one dependable source.

fark the GOP.fark anyone who votes for these shiatheads.fark 'em all dead.

Fark that. If I wasn't getting paid, I wouldn't write hidden messages - I just wouldn't show up for work. If all these NWS workers were just no shows on the job, that would send a much stronger message.

What would they do, fire them? Sue for wrongful termination. Seems like if you're not getting paid, you'd have a pretty good case.

Doc Daneeka:Fark that. If I wasn't getting paid, I wouldn't write hidden messages - I just wouldn't show up for work. If all these NWS workers were just no shows on the job, that would send a much stronger message.

What would they do, fire them? Sue for wrongful termination. Seems like if you're not getting paid, you'd have a pretty good case.

I imagine they consider their job to be a necessity for the continued safety of a number of people. The comments on this thread suggest they aren't wrong.

/If not doing my job meant people who didn't do anything wrong would likely die, I hope I'd show up whether or not I was paid.

Neeek:Doc Daneeka: Fark that. If I wasn't getting paid, I wouldn't write hidden messages - I just wouldn't show up for work. If all these NWS workers were just no shows on the job, that would send a much stronger message.

What would they do, fire them? Sue for wrongful termination. Seems like if you're not getting paid, you'd have a pretty good case.

I imagine they consider their job to be a necessity for the continued safety of a number of people. The comments on this thread suggest they aren't wrong.

/If not doing my job meant people who didn't do anything wrong would likely die, I hope I'd show up whether or not I was paid.

Doc Daneeka:Fark that. If I wasn't getting paid, I wouldn't write hidden messages - I just wouldn't show up for work. If all these NWS workers were just no shows on the job, that would send a much stronger message.

What would they do, fire them? Sue for wrongful termination. Seems like if you're not getting paid, you'd have a pretty good case.

They still show up because unlike members of Congress most of the people at the NWS have integrity and care of about the people the are (normally) paid to protect.

But also they show up because, just like every other government shutdown, those that weren't furloughed get back-pay, but unlike Congress they just don't know how long it will be before they get the money owed them.

I worked in the communications division for a PD in a mid-sized college town in the midwest back in the '90s, and loved to see the forecast discussion come across the printer, no matter whether there was anything going on or not weather wise, simply because it seemed that the forecaster that worked the evening shift was about as bored as I was and made a habit of inserting witty stuff somewhere mid text. Stuff like "nobody is really going to read this, but I'll explain why it will be calm with a low in the 70's tonight", or "if for some reason you look outside and see the blizzard raging and think it would be a good time to go for a drive, it isn't, so don't"

It seems the NWS has some people with a sense of humor, and I'm good with that, because they're also very good at what they do.